Yeah, it's definitely interesting to see how simple and stripped-back all the songs are here, considering how excessive and over-the-top Prince's output following this is.

As far as Black Mirror goes, I found "Fifteen Million Merits" a lot more affecting, honestly. You get one of the few really sympathetic protagonists of the series in Bing, and for the first half, it seems like there's a genuinely sweet romance blossoming between him and Abi. It's that relatable foundation that makes…

I do find it kind of funny that 2 separate East Coast rap albums coming out within a year of each other (this one and Ready to Die) sampled the same Miles Davis song for their off-kilter closing track.

Didn't see any movies this weekend, to my regret, but I liked pretty much everything I did check out.

Yeah, I wouldn't call it the best of the nominees, but I can't be too mad that it won, either.

Big Hero 6 was definitely a lot more clever, and thoughtful, than I'd been expecting from the trailers (but what else is new?).

It took me embarrassingly long to realize what 'LLAP' stood for.

On a Primer, are the 101/Intermediate/Advanced categorizations about how essential the bands' work is, or how accessible? Or is it just chronological? If it's the last one, the divisions seem kind of pointless.

I was never really clear about whether the Thin White Duke was part of Young Americans; the album's got the right sound, but there's none of the weird asides about cocaine and Aleister Crowley that make Station to Station stand out. The persona originating during the Young Americans tour would explain a lot, actually.

Yeah, I don't know if It Was Written really needs defending. It seems to be pretty widely regarded as Nas's best album after Illmatic, and if someone's going to say they find Illmatic overrated, this is usually the one they gravitate towards instead.

Started reading Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions (I'd only ever read Cat's Cradle out of curiosity before). It's a pretty fun book, and I like the little illustrations thrown in for things that absolutely do not need to be illustrated (ex.- "Their assholes looked like this:"). So there's that.

I would say pretty much any scene from The Passion of Joan of Arc. I adore the set design in that movie, so just seeing that outside of the really tight framing would be amazing. And, of course, seeing such incredible acting firsthand would just be the icing on the cake.

I'm just glad there was potential there, period. Better that than keeping everything at a steady, 90-minute boil of mediocrity.

I can't be the only one bothered by the fact that Philip Morris calls smoking "an adult choice" while at the same time marketing to children overseas. If you're going to be that reprehensible, at least be up-front about it.

I have no strong feelings on objective journalism one way or the other.

Honestly, I feel like the fact that the majority of really profitable YA right now is science fiction or fantasy has actually helped it avoid that sort of genre de-legitimization. I've heard YA talked about in general as shallow or vapid, but I haven't seen much of that discrimination within the group itself. If John…

Finally got around to seeing "Synecdoche, New York" (being a pretty big Charlie Kaufman fan, it's been on my radar for a while now). I liked it a lot, especially Tom Noonan as the guy who's playing Philip Seymour Hoffman's character. The ending, especially, I thought really tied the whole thing together very well.

I always love the way Fry delivers that bit about time, like he really thinks he's come up with a witty way to explain the yogurt.

Truly, an exodus of staggering proportions. Who's going to be next?

I would have said Ronny Cox's death in Total Recall, but I suppose I can't argue with Marty Feldman, either.